Our Friend M.R.

  Mel Ray Siverlake's family and my family have known each other for many years. We've worked together off and on with circuses and carnivals.  There are lots of Silverlakes and I've

had the pleasure of working with Jimmy, Joe and Myrna, to name a

few. In fact, Myrna had the cookhouse my first year on KM, and I was

her purchasing agent for the last several months of the tour. Since

she had once worked with Spitz like me, I sought her advice from time

to time on the breed and my routine. In fact, she gave me the best

advice I'd ever received when I had trouble keeping a hyper

seat-warmer in place. Her exact words were, "Well, I guess the thing

to do is not to worry about it." She was right. Constantly checking in on

Pete made it difficult to pay close attention to the rest of the dogs

that performed more tricks in the show. When I decided to stop fretting over Pete's

possible spastic behavior the act seemed to go much better.

  Myrna is Mel Ray's aunt on his dad's side. All the Siverlakes are

experienced in many facets of the circus & carnival industries. M.R. is no

different. When the whole gang heads to town for errands or a

bite to eat, most of the town people recognize us strangers as being

with the circus. When they ask us what we all do, each of

us answer quickly as most of us have one or two

primary jobs. When M.R. responds, it's usually with a pause followed by a laundry

list of regular and semi- regular duties. Now, we all kind of laugh as he's shortened

his response by saying, "A few different things..."

A few is more like several. Although M.R. says this season has been pretty laid-

back for him. Hard to imagine. He's come to my family's aid on a daily basis by helping

unload the heavy equipment for Robin in the cookhouse every morning. He is also instrumental in helping me set up my mammoth steel-bound dog pen. Mel also has the snake show on the midway and performs in the show.He helps B.J. in the concession stand and delivers cookhouse plates to the performers who don't have 

time to get their food while it's still hot.  He also drives the pole truck.

  Mel gets his good nature from B.K. and his wild sense of humor from Col. Mel along with an affinity for movies and the old west. After working with R & R's family, my dad here & there over the years and being Kids Fun Fair's all-around go-to guy, M.R. has fallen right into my families crazy sayings, crazier sense of humor and is fluent on Chandlerisms and general family lingo and nick names.

Simone, Lana, me and M.R.  C&M Circus 2011

 

 

 

 

  It would probably be easier to list capacities in the circus and carnival M.R. has not filled. From ride jockey, general manager, circus clown, ring master and animal guy and big top boss, there's not much amusement ground he hasn't covered. In addition to his actual circus duties, M.R. has helped me and my girls out so much this season, it would be impossible to repay him. Being a single girl on the circus is a challenge. Add two kids and lots of dogs and I've got my hands happily full!  Mel's come to our aid many times in everything from fixing broken landing jacks to making sure the truck has plenty of water & oil. We all do our running together, usually on Mondays and I'm always happy to taxi the gang around. I've bought him lunch a few times when the gang has lunch, although usually he insists that I don't. With everything he's helped the girls and me with this season, I'm not sure how we could ever reciprocate his good deeds. M.R. is not about doing things to glorify himself and is not a fair-weather friend. He and my family talk forever on everything from movies, actors, old and new circus, carnival rides, comedy teams and politics. We always have something to talk about and this year have forged a stronger bond in friendship.

  All that being said, I think the thing that holds M.R. in high esteem in my family is a selfless act he performed back in 2002. My dad had been sick from a variety of ailments back then and we were all certain his time was limited. One night he turned in early while my family & friends remained in the living room to finish watching a "nightly film feature." (Chandlerism)  Lauren was quickly alarmed at not being able to detect a breath.

Mel Ray raced to the bedroom with my sisters, et al and performed CPR and chest compressions in an effort to help dad regain consciousness. Despite is very best efforts, it was just Dad's time. We've all expressed our sincere gratitude for this many times over the years. But there are some debts that just cannot be paid in words, materiel possessions or deeds.

Thank you for everything Mel Ray.

Your friends,

The vast Chandler clan

Summer 2011

Praying Mantis on top of the City Museum
St. Louis, MO

  The season is about to wind down here in a few weeks and I have to say, in all it has been a very good year for my kids and me.  This show is very unique in the sense that there is a strong feel of family, even between those who are not related.  Since this was my first season on the road by myself, I'm thankful for the having spent the year here for that very reason.  There really is a sense of community & welcome mixed with fun on the off-time and a spirit of hard work to make the shows happen. 


Right to left: "Stilts" Volponi, Melvino, me
front: Tootie, Georgia, Noah & Lana.
Karina, Gg and Angel Perez joined us on our
night time adventures!

 One of many summer community pool trips



  In the last few months since I've posted on my blog we've traveled through Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois where we always have the pleasure of meeting up with circus fans who give us stellar treatment.  Many times this season we have been greeted my welcoming fans who bestow goodies and good cheer.  It is appreciated more than they know.  This part of the country is very beautiful and the trips from town to town in our Midwestern run are usually pretty short and flat.  That's a nice change of pace from the mountainous regions we maneuver in the first several months of the tour.  The summer seemed pretty short but the heat was manageable.  The lush green lots in MN and WI do give way to the dreaded giant mosquitoes in the evening.  We fought that battle with plenty of Off and citronella candles.  Summer on the circuses also mean trips to Culver's for ice cream, walks (and jogs) through parks where the kids burn off the energy I wish I had and community pools.  When the community pools were scarcely found, my brother-in-law Ron and I would set up our inflatable pools side by side for all the kids to splash around.  We made good use of them this year, in fact Georgia's whale-shaped pool finally met it's end at the end of summer, no doubt due to excess use! The last few weeks we spent time in Missouri where we met up with old friends and some former C&M co-workers I hadn't seen in a while.  It's always more fun to catch up in person than on Facebook. We spent a few days in the St. Louis area where we took not one but TWO trips to the City Museum!  What fun...for children of all ages!  I can't describe what it's like...it's an old shoe factory that's been turned into a kind of indoor family amusement climbing place.  You can climb on almost anything there.  There are arts & crafts rooms, giant fish tanks, caverns and  many unique slides. My favorite was the 10 story indoor spiraling slide!  There was also a circus display and a magic show that we caught just in time for Georgia to be chosen from the audience as the lovely assistant! Boy, would Dad be beaming with pride!  I was!  On the roof of building sits a Ferris wheel where Noah & Lana comforted me as I white knuckled my way through that ride.  There's a giant roof-top slide that we enjoyed over & over...I got a heck of a friction burn on my elbow from that slide!  There's a school bus that hangs partially over the corner of the building where you can sit and enjoy your food and/or drink and another super fast small slide I was too chicken to navigate. A giant statue of a praying mantis sits on top of it all that just looks too cool.  We were all so exhausted after our final trip to the museum and talked about hopefully returning next year as we hadn't scratched the surface of what the City Museum has to offer. Rest assured, we came home with souvenirs-a-plenty!  Definitely a season high-point!

  Along with the excess activity comes excess physical ailments from time to time.  We've fared everything from summer colds to pulled muscles and trips to the chiropractor.  My sister Robin and I have both had siactic nerve problems this year.  She threw herself off kilter by getting in the driver's side of her truck "with gusto," as she put it, and has been paying the price and the chiropractors for the last couple of months.  My left hip has been acting up from carrying Toot around on that side.  Since I'm right-handed she always goes on my left and as a result have made a few trips to get adjusted.  The last doctor was able to treat Robin & I on the same visit which was convenient and kind of fun.  This chiropractor was very thorough and didn't treat us with one foot out the door, clipboard in hand.  She even treated my jacked-up shoulder with acupuncture which was painless and effective.  Robin and I will no doubt be making a few more visits to chiropractors before we hit home and will surely be pain free before winter quarters.
  This is our first day in Oklahoma and I have to say, it's a good feeling to near home.  The weather's turned rainy and the official first day of autumn is right around the corner. As my dad used to say, "Where do the ducks go?"
  South for the wintertime...

 More to come and thanks for checking in.





Finally had the pleasure of seeing circus fan/historian
Bill Prickett again after many years.